Hold Your Breath
by XxEyelinerHeartsxX
Summary: Ariel Mariana lived in a little shack on the beach in District 4. What happens when she fills in on The Hunger Games for a little girl who was the last child that could defend herself? And what happens when she catches the eye of a certain boy from District 1? Will their worlds collide? Will they survive together or be faced with the inevitable if they end up as the remaining two?
1. The Reaping

**Hey guys, I'm back on this site! It's been a while! Well, I got a spark of an idea for a Hunger Games fanfic and wanted to share it! I know I might be notorious for not finishing fics, but I promise I will finish this and work on my other ones as well. A character description link is on my profile if you wanna know what some of the characters look like! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The sounds of the waves crashing around her are very calming to Ariel Mariana as she floats on her back in the waters off the coast of District 4. They sound different when her ears are dunked in the water while she floats as opposed to how they sounded whenever she casually watches the sea from the beach. Instead of watching the sunrise from the shore, she watches it from inside the water itself. All the pink, purple, and blue colors of the sunrise reflect on the water around her. As soon as the sun completes its journey into the sky, Ariel realizes it's time for her to get ready for work. She reluctantly stands up and exits the ocean wearing her basic black bikini.

Ariel arrives at her job at an academy pool training swimmers. She was just about to walk into the area with the pool until her boss stops her.

"Not so fast, Ariel."

"Is there a problem, sir?" she asks confused.

"No, no problem at all." he reassures her. "You're on desk duty today, while Aquata teaches."

_Are you kidding me right now?_ Ariel mentally bursts, however, instead she let out a "yes sir" and reports to where she was told. Regardless of how unfair the circumstances are, considering Aquata is a terrible teacher and is only being allowed to do so because her daddy owns the place, Ariel can not afford to lose her job. She has been on her own since the age of 14 when her parents died in a tsunami that terrorized District 4. Thankfully, the houses didn't take long to rebuild and that area hasn't seen a tsunami in years before that, so it is safe to say a tsunami strike is rare. Since then, Ariel has been supporting herself since she has no other family around and because nobody of her liking would take her in. She proved herself independent to the Capitol and landed the job she has since her parents were good friends with the boss. She lives in the smallest shack in the village, but the academy is a well enough job to support her living in it as well as keeping her decently fed, which eliminates any need for tesserae, which would put her name in multiple times for the Hunger Games.

The entrance opens and a little girl, Shella, walks in with her parents beaming with joy.

"Hey Ariel, guess what!" she chirps.

"Why, I have no clue." Ariel feigns ignorance while smiling.

"Today's my birthday!"

"Oh my!" Ariel says as she puts a hand to her chest. "How could I have forgotten?"

"It's okay." Shella smiles.

"Just kidding!" Ariel says as she pulls out a bag and hands it to her. "Happy birthday!"

"Oh boy!" she exclaims as she opens the bag and pulls out a seashell necklace handmade by Ariel. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem." Ariel smiles. "Did you get yourself signed in?"

"Yeah, but what are you doing at the desk?" she asks. "Aren't you gonna teach?"

"Not today, I'm afraid."

"Aw, not Aquata again!" she says out loud as Aquata walks in.

"Shella!" her mother scolds her. "What have we talked about that is inappropriate to say?"

Ariel notices Aquata's hurt look on her face before entering the pool room. One thing Ariel knows about Shella is the fact that she has autism. Most districts aren't able to detect it due to the limited health care they have, but luckily District 4 has knowledgeable enough doctors. Shella is a very bright little girl, who on the surface is your typical child who love to run around and play, however, she has her own quirks and tends to have meltdown episodes. Ariel has known Shella her whole life and has calmed her down during 95% of her meltdowns. Ariel remembers that it is her 12th birthday, which mean that the next day, she is to attend the reaping for the 74th Annual Hunger Games.

Ariel hopes to God that Shella won't get picked because Shella may be bright, but she does not think like a career by any means. She is way too innocent with the dream of becoming a doctor. With the ruthless careers she would expected to form an alliance with, she wouldn't stand a chance. Ariel always took care of Shella's family and made sure they were fed if they needed that sort of assistance to eliminate any need for Shella's family to acquire tesserae from the Capitol. Ariel's job pays well enough to be able to do that whenever the time comes for their need of assistance. Granted, Ariel and Shella are the least likely names to be drawn. However, that still doesn't stop the nagging thought that it's a messed up world. A world that will make Shella attend the reaping in the first place with any chance of getting picked. She is only a little girl, after all.

* * *

The day of the reaping arrives and Ariel can be found in her usual sanctum. As she floats in the water and takes in the colors surrounding her during the sunrise, she does not want to think of the possibility that it's the last time she'll be able to do this.

_No, there's no way my name will get drawn. I have never once taken any tesserae, even when my parents died! _Ariel tries to reason with herself.

When the sun rises in the sky, Ariel heads home to get ready for the reaping instead of for work. She pulls out a royal blue dress with silver sequins detailed at the halter neckline that her mother picked out for her on her first reaping and lays it out on her bed. She cries tears from her hazel eyes in the bathtub as she washes herself because even after her mother died, she never stopped wearing that dress paired with the silver sandals to all of her reapings. She needs her parents more than ever and she knows it. When she gets done washing herself, she forces herself to dry her hair and her tears. She wraps her hair in a towel then proceeds to put on her dress and shoes along with her special silver locket which contains a picture of her parents' wedding photo. After it dries, she lets her brunette hair fall down into their natural curls. She has no idea why but she's scared. She just knows she has a really bad feeling about the reaping.

* * *

Ariel meets up with Shella at the sign-ins. Shella has her dark hair in two braids and she is wearing a white sundress with white sandals paired with the necklace Ariel made her with a grin on her face.

"I see you really do like your present." Ariel smiles at her.

"Duh!" Shella remarks. "I love it! You look pretty!"

"Thanks!" Ariel says. "You look quite lovely yourself!"

"Thank you." Shella smiles.

"Please take care of her." Shella's mother says as she hugs Ariel.

"I will." Ariel reassures her before letting go.

Shella hugs her parents before she and Ariel depart. It is Shella's turn to sign in which means her finger needs to be pricked. Ariel notices silent tears falling down Shella's face and a scream doesn't erupt from her until Ariel notices what lies ahead.

"Shh." Ariel attempts to sooth her. "It's okay."

"It's gonna hurt!" she shrieks. "I don't wanna do it! It's gonna hurt!"

Ariel hugs her and stroks her back to calm her down.

"It's just one stick then it'll all be over, I promise!"

"NO!" she lets out a blood-curdling scream as people stare, some with annoyance, and some with sympathy.

"Shella, if you are scared of this, how on earth do you plan on becoming a doctor?" Ariel tries a different approach.

This immediately quiets Shella as she stares at Ariel with realization that she is right. She nods before allowing Ariel to walk her to the sign-in desk. She holds out her finger to the lady and Ariel notices Shella's anxiety starting to come back as the lady takes longer than necessary to prick her finger.

"Well don't just stand there!" Ariel orders. "Hurry up and do it!"

The lady gives Ariel a nasty look before doing so. Ariel grabs Shella's finger and helps her print the blood on the right spot. Then Ariel gets her finger pricked and does the same thing. Ariel and Shella stop in front of the 12-year-olds section. She can tell Shella is nervous even though her meltdown ended and she appears calm and collected.

"Listen to me, Shella." Ariel says. "No matter what, you are not going into those games, even if your name is called. Do you understand? Somebody is going to have the decency to volunteer for you. I just know it."

"They don't have to." Shella replies. "It is my problem, not theirs."

"Don't say that." Ariel pleads. "I promise you, everything will be okay."

"Ma'am, you need to get with your age group!" A peacekeeper scolds Ariel. Ariel glares at him before turning back to Shella.

"Please stay strong. It'll all be okay, I promise." she says before walking over to the 18-year-olds section, giving the peacekeeper a final nasty glare.

District 4's annoyingly orange escort walks onto the stage. She has on an orange puffy minidress with 7-inch orange heels. She also has blonde hair that anyone in their right minds can tell it's as fake as fake can get. Her skin is literally dyed orange and her name is Ursula.

"Welcome!" Ursula chirps. "I have a special video sent here all the way from the Capitol!"

Ariel rolls her eyes as the same video that is played every year projects onto the screen. When it's over, Ursula's annoying voice rises again.

"That is so amazing, isn't it?"

Ursula is followed by silence from the entire crowd. Ariel is surprised crickets aren't chirping.

"Oh, stop being such spoiled sports!" Ursula pouts.

Ariel starts fuming, yet still manages to keep her composure. How dare she say that? _She's _not the one that has to fight to the death with 23 other tributes in a battle arena. She wouldn't even last a minute in there.

"Alright, ladies first!" she says as she reaches her hand in the bowl full of the girls' names. Ariel shuts her eyes terrified.

_Dear God, they're gonna pick me. They're gonna pick me._

"Shella Green."

Ariel opens her eyes in shock as everyone turns to stare at Shella.

"Come on, sweetie!" Ursula urges her. "Don't be shy!"

Shella's face remain emotionless, but the fear is stored in her eyes. A piercing cry lets out from her mother as she walks towards the stage. She steps on trying not to lose it from her mother's crying, but her eyes start to become tearful. She knows that this is it for her.

"Are there any volunteers?" Ursula asks with annoyance as Shella's mom continues to let out blood-curdling screams and cries with her husband holding her back.

Ariel looks around hopefully for someone to volunteer for this poor girl. This is a career district, after all. There are usually volunteers every year. She figures someone else cares about Shella's situation too. Then to her dismay and shock, nobody volunteers. She is both disgusted and devastated.

"I do!" Ariel finds herself saying as she steps out of the group of people she is in. Suddenly, everything goes quiet as everyone present stares at Ariel.

"Well, it appears we have a volunteer!" Ursula says happily.

_No shit._ Ariel wants to say as she quickly walks towards the stage.

Shella looks at Ariel with tears in her eyes. She did not mean for Ariel to give up her life for her. She steps off the stage and runs to her crying mother and hugs her. Ariel steps onto the stage and looks out at everybody. Some people look at her like she's crazy while others understand why she did what she did.

"And now for the boys!" Ursula continues with excitement in her tone as she reaches into the bowl with the boys' names.

"Poseidon Starr!"

_Dear God, I'm doomed. _Ariel thinks to herself miserably assuming it will be a big, strong guy that she would have to fight against. She may stand tall at 5'10", but she is still a skinny, fragile little thing. To her surprise, when she looks to the crowd, she sees a little boy about Shella's age. She covers her mouth in shock and grief. He has curly red hair and freckles and he walks to the stage without having to be forced and with no emotion on his face. Then Ariel _really_ wants to cry.

"Any volunteers?" Ursula asks.

She is followed by nothing but silence and Ariel struggles to keep her composure. She can not believe nobody has the decency to volunteer for this poor child. She can not believe the lack of volunteers, considering this is a career district. She can not believe they would allow this little boy to compete. He had to be 12 because he did not look a day over 10, and the minimum age to compete in the games is 12.

"Alright then!" Ursula chirps cheerfully. "You two shake hands!"

Ariel and Poseidon both slowly turn to each other and do what they were told. The look they give each other indicates that they were both thinking about the same inevitability. Either one or both of them is going to die.

**Thank you for taking the time to read this! Please read and review! I'd greatly appreciate it!**


	2. Marvel

**Okay, so here is the second chapter. I would like to thank BigEyed for reading and reviewing the last chapter. If you need an idea of what the characters look like, please refer to the tumblr link regarding this story on my profile page! Enjoy!**

* * *

Ariel stands in a room alone and awaits her visits, though only expecting one. Right on cue, Shella and her family walk in.

"You have five minutes!" the peacekeepers inform them before closing the door.

Shella immediately runs to Ariel and hugs her, nearly knocking her off of her feet.

"Ariel, I'm so sorry!" she cries. "This was not supposed to happen!"

"I wasn't gonna let them do this to you, Shella." Ariel informs her. "You are way too bright and fragile for this world."

"Well so are you!" Shella says.

Ariel merely stares at her.

"Do me a favor?" she asks. Shella nods. "Please take good care of that necklace I made you. Whenever you miss me, just clutch the shells to remind yourself that I am coming home."

Shella nodsonce more with a tear falling from her cheek.

"I still can't thank you enough." Shella's mother says as she hugs Ariel. "Please come home safely."

"I will." Ariel promises. The only problem is, she's not so sure. She merely clutches the locket containing the picture of her parents.

"Your parents would be so proud." Shella's mother informes her.

"Times up!" the peacekeepers barge in.

"No!" Shella says. "It hasn't even been five minutes!"

"I said time is up!" the peacekeeper orders. "Now get out, or you will be forcefully removed from this premises!"

"Shella, it's okay!" Ariel says. "Go on! We'll see each other soon!"

Shella has tears sliding down her cheeks as she and her parents exit the room.

"I love you, Ariel! Please do your best to-"and the door slams before Shella can finish her sentence.

Ariel walks up to the door and stares at it with a blank expression, clearly angry about Shella being cut off like that.

"YOU RUDE BASTARDS!" she screams at the top of her lungs as she repeatedly punches the door, taking every bit of her anger out on it.

Ariel runs both her hands through her hair as she walks across the room and kicks a chair down with tears streaming down her cheeks. Then someone enters the room. Expecting it to be a peacekeeper, she turns and sees that it's Aquata.

"Whoa, what happened in here?" she asks surveying the scene.

"I lost my temper." Ariel states flatly.

"You always do." she chuckles trying to lighten the mood. Ariel chuckles because she appreciates her efforts.

"So what brings you here?" Ariel asks. "Not that I mind, I'm actually glad you came. I know we haven't exactly gotten along..."

"I know that too." Aquata says to her grinning. "But you're like a sister to me in a way. You get on my nerves when you never want me to teach the swimmers, but when we're closing up the place, I don't mind you so much."

"You're alright too." Ariel grins at her.

"Listen, I know you've been helping support Shella's family." Aquata starts off and immediately finishes when she sees Ariel's look of realization. "But I'll help take care of them. I make good enough money to do so too and I just wanted you to know that so that you wouldn't have to worry yourself. I don't want any worry to strain you in the games because I want you to make it home."

Ariel looks up and notices that Aquata is crying.

"Thank you." Ariel hugs her. "I promise, I'll do my best to make it home. I'm not gonna lie though, I'm scared."

"I'll be rooting for you." Aquata says before pulling away from the hug and smiling at her.

A peacekeeper enters the room and surveys the scene around him the same way Aquata did when she entered.

"It is time." he informs Ariel.

* * *

Ariel and Poseidon follow Ursula onto the train as reporters are bombarding them with questions and trying to get responses. It seems that an angry Ursula is scary enough to them to make them back off when they got to the entrance to the train. Just being around a happy Ursula is enough to scare Ariel and Poseidon.

They are soon in a room in the District 4 cart of the train and await their mentors. A younger man and a an elderly woman walk into the room and sit across from Ariel and Poseidon.

"I'm Finnick." the man says.

"I'm Mags." the woman follows.

"Ariel." Ariel says, knowing full well who they are. Mags won the 9th Hunger Games and Finnick Odair won the 65th Hunger Games at age 14. Being a young and handsome victor, he is a major favorite of The Capitol and all of the Capitol ladies literally swoon over him.

"Poseidon." Poseidon says.

"Nice to meet you both." Finnick tells them. "Now, as you can see, there isn't much that could be done on the train. We can only discuss a few things such as what we're gonna learn in The Capitol. We're gonna be on this train for 24 hours, so if I were you two, I'd take advantage of this time to relax because there won't be as much relaxation time when we reach our destination."

"I wanna learn how to use a sword or a trident." Poseidon says.

"That is definitely doable and a given." Finnick smiles at him. "Ariel is there anything in particular you want to learn?"

Ariel thinks for a moment. She has no idea what she wants to learn. Learning how to use weapons is a given, but she knows she doesn't want to be in a situation where the opponent has a weapon and she doesn't.

"I wanna learn how to disarm." Ariel decides.

"That's a good one." Finnick says impressed. "So I will teach you both techniques and Mags will teach survival skills. Each of you will get one-on-one training with me."

"That sounds great." Ariel tries to have a positive attitude.

"I know you're scared." Finnick tells her. "I don't blame you in anyway."

Ariel gives him a small smile.

"Now the rooms are over there. You two decide who gets which one, and I suggest you guys explore the train. We have tributes from districts 1, 2, and 3 on board, so it would be a good idea to catch a glimpse of them and see what you're up against." Finnick informs them. "We're on our way to District 5 now."

Ariel and Poseidon both stand up and take up Finnick's suggestion. Ariel explores the carts of the train and comes across a bar cart.

_How convenient._

Ariel continues towards the back of the train. She reaches the cart that leads to the back part which is a small outdoor area for fresh air. She is about to walk outside as the door is opened and it hits her in the face, fortunately not knocking her down. She only lets out a small grunt as she holds her hand to her forehead. The culprit that opened the door stops and stares at her for a moment. She takes her hand off of her forehead then stares back up at him glaring. She does not want to show weakness to another tribute before even reaching The Capitol. The brown-haired, green-eyed boy stands at 6'3", which is a full 5 inches taller than Ariel, but she does not back down nor show any signs of being intimidated.

The boy doesn't glare back and can only hold a blank stare. He leaves the cart area without any apology. Ariel scoffs at his rudeness as she goes to the outdoor area of the back cart. She pulls the door closed and leans against it with her eyes closed. She is finally alone and feels at peace, especially with the fresh air. She walks to the railing of the train, thinking about what just occurred with the boy. She hopes she didn't show that she was intimidated by him. She was well aware of the fact that he is 5 inches taller than her, which she isn't used to considering how tall she is, and she was also well aware of his defined arms which make her fear him even more because she could tell that he trained hard. Why did the train cart in the back happen to be the only one with a manual door?

Ariel lets her thoughts wander towards Shella back home and hopes she's alright and taken care of like Aquata promised. She recalls her promise and then doubts herself after her run-in with a strong tribute. She figures he is from District 1 or 2 with the way he's built. She stans outside for a while until they reach District 5. She notices a girl with red hair and a guy with black hair walking onto the train as it arrives, avoiding reporters like she and Poseidon did earlier. One strange thing she notices about the girl is her face. It closely resembles a fox. She chuckles a bit at her own comparison earning a look from the District 5 female.

Dusk arrives as they reached District 6 and Ariel decides to walk to the bar cart. She sits down on a stool and rests her head on her hands.

"UV Blue please." she says to the bartender.

"And what brings you here, little lady?" a voice next to her says.

She turns to look and notices it's the boy that hit her with the door earlier. She glares at him again before turning to the shots placed in front of her.

"What do you want?" she asks before taking a shot.

"I want to know what it'll take for you to let me buy you a drink." he smirks.

"That line doesn't work with me because one, the drinks are free to us tributes, and two, you hit me with a door earlier." she informs him with annoyance painted on her face before rolling her eyes and turning to her shots and taking another one.

The boy scratches the back of his neck nervously acknowledging his previous rudeness and major fail to impress a woman.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." he says as she takes a third shot. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be there and your beauty kind of caught me off guard."

"Right." Ariel replies sarcastically with a scoff.

"You think I'm lying?" he asks her.

"No shit." she says to him before taking her fourth shot, finally glad she was able to say it to somebody since she could not say it to Ursula at the reaping. Silence passes between them as she takes the last two shots and a few moments after that.

"Then I guess there's no point in me telling you my name or what color shirt I'm wearing right now, since that'll be a lie in your eyes too." he jokes.

Ariel lets out a slight chuckle.

"Oh!" the boy exclaims. "Mission accomplished! I made you laugh!"

Ariel laughs more and smiles at him.

"Marvel." he says to her.

"What?" she asks confused. She's already feeling a little bit tipsy and he notices that.

"That's my name." he tells her. "Marvel. District 1."

"I thought you weren't going to tell me your name." she giggles before smirking at him.

"I guess I couldn't resist." he smiles at her. "So what's your name, beautiful?"

"Ariel. District 4." she tells him.

"Ah." he responds. "A pretty name for a pretty lady."

Ariel rolls her eyes smiling and notices a few empty shot glasses in front of him. She realizes the likeliness that the only reason he was being nice to her was because he's a little bit tipsy himself.

"You know, they probably aren't supposed to be serving us alcohol, considering we are children." Marvel whispers to her. "Why do you suppose they're doing that?"

"Maybe they don't feel like putting up with a fight. I mean, they probably do every year they deny them." Ariel suggests.

"Hm. Maybe." Marvel agrees with the possibility. Ariel smiles at him again.

"So what brings you here tonight?" he asks her. "I've never seen a girl go through shots that quickly. You okay?"

She looks at him for a long moment before deciding to respond.

"You're really cute." she giggles, immediately realizing what she said then covering her mouth embarrassed.

"I have to go." she says quickly standing up followed by a slight stumble. The last thing she wants to do is flirt with the enemy.

"I'll walk you back to your cart." Marvel offers.

"No!" she says. "Listen here, Marvy-boy!"

"Marvy-boy?" Marvel mutters confused in the middle of her tangent.

"I am absolutely _not_ the little weakling you think I am!" she continues. "You may have caught me in this state right now but when we get to The Capitol, you better believe that's when the fun ends and the training starts. I volunteered for these games and I'm not afraid to disarm you and kill you with your own weapon!"

She instantly regrets her words before walking away. She walks through the automatic doors which lead outside before leading into the next cart. Then she proceeds to the doors which again, lead outside before leading into the next cart, which was the big one that contained all the District sections and their resting place. The train takes a turn which causes her to feel dizzy. She falls down hitting her head hard on a railing.

"Damn it, really?"

She feels two strong arms hoist her up to her feet with no effort whatsoever. He wraps his arm around her waist before lifting her into the main cart to make sure she doesn't stumble off of the train. He takes her into the District 4 section and walks her into the right room. Luckily they choose the room that Poseidon did not choose. Marvel helps her over to the bed, remembering to unmake it so that he can tuck her underneath the covers. She is already asleep as he walks out and ends up face-to-face with Finnick crossing his arms at him.

"She just had a little too much and I was helping her." Marvel informs him. Finnick says nothing so Marvel exits the District 4 section, but Finnick knows he will have to have a talk with Ariel in the morning.

**Okay, so I realize this is a bit different than how most people would write it but I have seen people write encounters on the train. It may seem unrealistic that Finnick would let them relax, but let's face it, what can they do on a train besides discuss things? Since I'm personally a hands-on learner, I guess the way this played out made sense to me. And believe me, Ariel is gonna remember everything in the morning and scold herself for being so stupid. And you may think she's not able to get drunk that quickly, but I've personally taken a few shots of UV Blue Vodka and it snuck up on me good! I just thought this would be a nice start of them meeting and everything. Read & Review please! I would greatly appreciate it!**


	3. The Parade

**And now for Chapter 3! Finnick is definitely not going to be happy with Ariel right now. He's very pissed. I would like to thank Fenrisulven13 and let's go other snape for the reviews! I'd appreciate if this chapter was read and reviewed as well! Reviews are what keep me motivated to update and I will update this chapter once there's three reviews on it! Anyway, enjoy!**

Ariel awoke with an excruciating headache.

_'Why does my head hurt?'_

She groans as she rises. She changes into a red halter dress with ruffles at the neckline and red sandals that have a 2-inch heel on them. She walks out to the dining cart and sits down and joins Finnick, Mags, Poseidon, and Ursula, with Finnick and Ursula glaring at her. She notices the awkward silence and the look on Finnick and Ursula's faces, making an awkward facial expression of her own.

"Okay, good morning to you guys too." she states sarcastically rolling her eyes down to her orange juice.

"You seem irritable this morning." Finnick states matter-of-factly.

"You most certainly do!" Ursula pipes in.

"I wonder why." Ariel states bitterly. "I woke up with a pounding headache and my mentor and escort are being extra rude to me the second I wake up. Oh no, I would totally be okay with that apparently."

"Right, just like I'm _totally_ okay with the fact that you made a complete _fool_ of yourself in front of a _career _last night!" Finnick shoots back.

_'Shit.' _Ariel immediately remembers the events from the previous night. She remembers how she flirted with the boy from District 1 then proceeded to threaten him.

"Oh, now you remember I see?" Finnick observes.

"What on earth were you thinking?!" Ursula demands more than asks.

"I'm sorry." she apologizes. "I-"

"Sorry isn't gonna get you any sponsors, honey." Finnick interupts.

"It most certainly will not!" Ursula agrees.

"Ursula." Finnick grins. "I think I've got this."

"Okay." Ursula says dreamily while smiling at him.

Ariel rolls her eyes at Ursula's obvious fatuation with Finnick and Poseidon remains silent throughout the whole ordeal. Not that he talked much anyway.

"Finnick, let her talk." Mags says. "You seem to forget that you have made mistakes while I was mentoring you too, and I let you speak when we were discussing them."

"What mistakes have I made?" Finnick jokes innocently to Mags.

"Remember when you started the fight with the boy from District 1 in the training center? You had to be forced off of him and then escorted out. You were banned for the rest of the day."

"Okay, that is different!" Finnick says.

"How?!" Ariel protests, clearly annoyed at the double standard.

"He referred to my girl back home as a slut." Finnick states. "Which, by the way, I haven't really gotten the chance to thank you."

"Thank me?" Ariel asks, obviously confused by the random transition of topics. "For what?"

"Oh, you don't remember?" Finnick says.

Ariel shakes her head with a confused expression. What could he possibly have to thank her for? She hasn't met him in her entire life.

"Remember the girl you found on the beach?" Finnick asks her.

Ariel suddenly senses familiarity at the mention of it. She tries to think about what happened.

"She was drunk and distraught and you brought her into your house?"

"Annie Cresta?" Ariel asks.

Finnick nods and Ariel's memories come flooding back to her regarding that night.

* * *

_Ariel walks along the beach at 11 o' clock at night. She always does this when she doesn't have to work the prior morning. She loves being on the beach at midnight. She lays out her towel and her bottle of wine and sits on the beach and drinks. After a while, and being three-fourths done with the bottle, she looks out at the water and the rough waves crashing against the shore. She smiles because she loves to swim drunk, especially with rough waves. She tends to be an excellent swimmer while drunk, yet wobbles on land._

_Then she notices someone heading into the rough water, stumbling as well. She gets confused and heads over to investiage. She notices it's a woman and she's crying as a rough wave proceeds to drag her out further into the water. Ariel panics and runs towards the water noticing her struggle to stay above it. Ariel doesn't even have to think, she runs straight in then dives through a wave to get to the woman. She panics when she can't find her, but she goes further out. She continues to panic, and the woman's head protrudes from the water._

"_Oh thank God!" Ariel screams as she races to the woman. Ariel immediately grabs her hand. "Hold on to me! We're going to swim back to the shore!"_

"_I know how to swim!" the woman protests._

"_You're drunk!" Ariel tells her. "I saw how those waves easily drug you out! Just hold onto me! I'll help you!"_

_The woman doesn't say anything and does as Ariel says. Ariel swims to a place where they are able to stand up and Ariel helps her walk. They both stagger when a rough wave hits them, but they make it onto the shore. Ariel grabs her towel and wraps it around her. Then she has her arm around the woman's waist as she picks up her bottle of wine then helps the woman into her house. Ariel sits her down at her table and puts the wine away. She was about to ask who she was until she recognized her._

"_I know you know who I am!" the woman slurs. "Everyone knows I'm the town psycho."_

"_I don't think that, Annie." Ariel quietly says to her. "Everyone reacts differently to what they go through, and you've been through a lot. I'm just concerned and want you to be okay. You can sleep in my bed while I take the couch if you want. I'd take you back home to Victor's Village, but I'm pretty drunk myself and I don't think I can make it that far."_

_Annie Cresta merely stares at her, slightly shocked at how understanding she is, considering she never went through the games herself. Annie won the 70th Hunger Games by pure miracle. She went insane after her district partner was decapitated by the female from District 2, but luckily she had kind enough allies to help her. When her allies died, she won out of pure luck, mainly due to being a good swimmer since the arena was flooded. Ever since then, she was never the same. She suffers from PTSD due to her terrible experiences in the games aside from the decapitation of her district partner. She occasionally withdraws into herself and when a memory from the games resurfaces, she covers her ears with her hands in attempts to block it out. Her lover, Finnick Odair, is the only one that can bring her back to reality._

_Ariel suddenly feels dizzy and sits down against the bottom cabinets on the floor._

"_Are you okay?" Annie asks her._

"_Yeah, I'm fine." Ariel says with her eyes closed. "You need me to help you to bed right quick?"_

"_Annie!" They hear a voice scream outside._

_Annie immediately shoots up and runs outside. Ariel follows but doesn't make it past the door. She decides to stand there and watch through the window to make sure the guy is trustworthy, even though Annie willingly ran to him. Sure enough, she sees Annie run into his arms and him hugging her and soothing her. Then he sweeps one arm underneath her legs and carries her back home. Ariel smiles then slides down against the door and proceeds to pass out against her front door._

* * *

"That was you?" Ariel realizes she already knows the answer then asks a different question. "How did you know I was the one who helped her?"

Poseidon and Mags seem confused.

"Excellent memory." Finnick grins. "I've seen you enter that house a few times and since it was the house Annie came out of, I figured it was you."

"Oh." Ariel says dumbstruck.

"You're not taking credit for something someone else did are you?" Finnick teases.

"No, I am not!" Ariel says sternly.

Mags and Ursula chuckle and they even earn a laugh from Poseidon as well. Ariel turns to look at him and smiles. He gives her a small smile back, which is better than nothing.

"Anyway, I think we should watch the reapings before we arrive to the Capitol." Ursula suggests as she grabs the remote. "We were technically supposed to last night, however, Finnick suggested that we give you guys a break and I for one, thought it was an excellent idea." She shoots Finnick her flirtatious smile.

"Alright, I'm interested in seeing what we're up against." Poseidon finally speaks. This earns him an astonished look from everyone.

"Finally, you speak!" Ursula says. "I was so worried that you were practicing to become an Avox!"

"Nah, I just don't really have much to say." Poseidon simply tells her.

Ursula nods in acknowledgement before turning on the TV. She switches it to the right channel which contains the reapings from each district.

District 1's female tribute is a pretty girl with curly blonde hair by the name of Glimmer, wearing a gold dress with golden strapped heels. She looks absolutely stunning as she smiles and waves at the cameras as she walks on stage. Ariel immediately wishes she did that but acknowledges that it's too late now. She knows that girl will get heaps of sponsors for her effort.

District 1's male tribute is a handsome guy and the guy that Ariel threatened the night before. He immediately volunteers for a scared-looking 14-year-old that gets reaped, doing the same thing that Glimmer did as he walks to the stage. When their escort orders them to shake hands, Ariel swears she can notice him winking at Glimmer when they do so, which causes her to roll her eyes then focus on the District 2 reapings.

District 2's female tribute is a small, dark-haired girl by the name of Clove, not quite as slim as Ariel, but definitely much shorter. Her height doesn't deter Ariel one bit, because she already knows that the girl is gonna be deadly.

District 2's male tribute is a tall, muscular, blonde-haired, blue-eyed guy who is almost as tall as Marvel and definitely more muscular. His name is Cato and Ariel wonders if he's on steroids because of how big he is.

When their escort orders them to shake hands, they do so with their smirks equally intimidating. Ariel definitely knows she doesn't wanna get on their bad side.

Ariel barely pays attention as the other reapings happen, simply because she is not interested in everybody. She takes note that the District 3 male looks like he's 13, and the female is tall and thin looking about 15. She also notices how pale her own face turns when she is on the stage in her own reaping standing along side Poseidon who doesn't pale, but remains emotionless. She still notices the look of fear in his eyes even if the others do not. She turns to look at him, and he's wearing that same expression as he watches himself on screen. She turns her attention back to the screen right before he notices her looking at him and laughs when she sees District 5's female tribute. This causes everyone in the room to each raise an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry." she chuckles. "I just saw this girl get on the train last night and I just think she looks exactly like a Fox. I didn't catch her name so I'll just refer to her as Foxface."

Finnick chuckles and shakes his head at her as she continues to giggle.

Ariel's giggle fit ends as soon as she notices District 11's male tribute, Thresh, who immediately causes her to literally let out a loud gulp. Everyone's heads turn to her once again.

"I hope to God I don't end up going up against that." Ariel states honestly. "He's much bigger than both the careers."

"Yeah, he could definitely snap your tiny frame in half." Finnick teases.

"Oh, shut up!" Ariel teases back, but she can't help but notice how old the female tribute for District 11, Rue, is and feels guilty for being able to joke at a time like this. She immediately thinks of Shella back home and how Shella's family must be thankful that she won't be in that arena with her.

Then the final set of reapings really shock Ariel. The first person to get reaped is a girl exactly Shella's age, Primrose Everdeen. As she's walking to the stage, someone intervenes.

"Prim!" someone shrieks on the TV screen. "Prim!"

She notices Prim turn around to face a much taller brunette girl who Peacekeepers start to detain.

"I volunteer!" the girl shrieks. The girl's cries cause Ariel to clap a hand over her mouth.

"I volunteer as tribute!" the girl states more calmly as the peacekeepers let her go.

When the girl introduces herself as Katniss Everdeen on stage, Ariel then puts two and two together and concludes that it is Primrose's older sister, which breaks her heart even more as Shella is like a little sister to Ariel..

"No shit." Ariel mutters as she rolls her eyes as the District 12 escort says "I bet my hat that that is your little sister".

"Shhhh!" Ursula hisses which causes Ariel to roll her eyes again. She should be glad that Ariel didn't say that to _her_ in the District 4 reapings.

The boy to get reaped ends up being a blonde-haired boy named Peeta Mellark, who looks pretty strong, but is much shorter than Cato, Marvel, and Thresh, and even though Ariel can relate to Katniss in every way, she knows she has to watch out for her in the arena because she has ambitions just like Ariel, but only one of them can get home. Then, Haymitch Abernathy, the victor of the 50th Hunger Games and the Second Quarter Quell, ends the show by acting out on drunk behavior. He hugs Katniss then ends up falling off the stage. Ariel and Poseidon both have their jaws dropped with amused looks.

"Now, you can't say I made as much of a fool out of myself as this guy did." Ariel says to Finnick.

Finnick chuckles at her in response.

"Wow, this is gonna be an interesting fight this year." Ursula says. "But the odds are still in favors for the both of you! You are both careers after all!"

Ariel and Poseidon remain silent knowing full-well that the other careers have more of a chance over the both of them.

Finally, the train arrives at the Capitol and Ariel and Poseidon are both awe-struck at how beautiful the place is, despite the ridiculous get-ups of it's citizens.

"Is this real?" Poseidon asks.

"It is." Finnick chuckles.

As the train arrives, Ariel takes initiative and does what she wishes she did at her reaping, and smiles and waves at the crowd through the window, just like Glimmer is probably doing. Poseidon makes an effort and does the same, which makes Ariel's smile more genuine, as she's glad that he's starting to come out of his shell.

"Alright guys, be prepared for heaps of cameras since we are in the presence of the great Finnick O'Dair!" says Ursula causing Finnick to grin at her.

_'Fucking kiss-up.'_ Ariel thinks to herself.

Ariel and Poseidon exit the train along with Finnick, Mags, and Ursula and it is just as Ursula said. They get the cameras due to Finnick's presence. Finally, they enter the Capitol building and have space around them.

"Nice dress. Red is my favorite color."

Ariel turns to face the source of the compliment. Marvel.

"Thanks." she gives him a half-smirk before following Ursula and Poseidon to their section. There's a door with the words "4 Female" on it and Ariel takes a wild guess and enters that one.

Instantaneously, she is greeted with three ridiculous-looking Capitol citizens.

"Hi Ariel!" the woman with sea green hair and light brown skin says over-enthustiastically.

"Hi?" Ariel says confused about why everyone is so happy.

"Oh my goodness!" the woman with blue hair exclaims. "You are so tall and so thin! Do you model?"

"My goodness!" exclaims the man with a pink fohawk with a curl at the front and pure white skin. "You are too skinny! You need to eat! Do you eat?"

Ariel suddenly feels offended.

"Be nice!" the woman with blue hair smacks him. "Some girls are just naturally thin and have a high metabolism! She's from District 4! She has no reason to starve, you idiot!"

"I'm just behing honest." the man states. "She looks like she doesn't eat."

"Don't worry." Finnick says to the man. Nobody saw him come in. "I'll be sure to fatten her up." He pats her tiny stomach then winks at her.

Ariel scoffs already knowing the next few hours are going to be filled with hell. They do the usual routine and shave her (which she didn't need much of) and they pluck at her eyebrows, which also didn't need much work. She stands up in her thin sheet after they are done and allows them to continue examining her. She wonders if Poseidon is going through as much hell as she is. The next thing she knows, she's being vertically measured.

"168 centimeters!" says the woman with blue hair. "You have good enough height not to be underestimated in the arena!"

_'Except it's not good enough for Marvel.' _Ariel thinks.

The woman with sea green hair measures Ariel's bust, waist, and hips.

"My gosh, she really is tiny!" she says. "34-inch bust, 34-inch hips, _and a 23-inch waist!"_

_'Okay if everyone could finally stop pointing out how tiny I am, that'd be great.' _Ariel is mentally rolling her eyes.

"I agree, Neala, let's take her weight now!" says the woman with blue hair as she sets a scale in front of Ariel.

"Good idea, Velvetta!"

_'God why me?' _Ariel asks herself as she steps on the scale.

"118 pounds!" says the man. "It's worse than I thought!"

_'Okay the insults are really getting old!'_

"Oh, stop it, Dick!" says Velvetta.

_'Hmmm, Dick. What a fitting name.'_

"Let's turn in the measurements to Phillipe so that he'll know what to do!" Neala says.

And with that, the prep team exited the room.

"Oh thank God." Ariel says out loud.

Finnick chuckles at her.

"What?" Ariel demands. "That Dick with pink hair is so mean!"

"I know." Finnick states. "But you have to remain with a positive attitude. I promise this will all be over soon."

"Yeah, and then I die." Ariel states with genuine fear in her eyes, attempting to keep it off of the rest of her face.

"Don't say that." Finnick tells her.

Ariel remains with a blank expression.

"Look at me." Finnick grabs her shoulders and she looks at him with a blank stare. "We are not gonna have that kind of attitude. As your mentor, I am going to do whatever it takes to give you the best shot at staying alive."

"Thank you." Ariel's voice slightly shakes.

Finnick hugs her and she hugs him back. She knows very well that she can't deny how scared she is. Then they hear a door open and in steps a man with blue hair, which the top of it resembles the ocean, instantly reminding Ariel of home.

"I'm gonna go take my seat outside now. I'll see you after the parade okay honey?" Finnick says.

"Okay." Ariel says not weirded out by his endearment. It reminds her of how her dad used to talk to her. Finnick gives her shoulder a squeeze and claps Ariel's stylist on the back before walking out.

"Even though it's pointless, it is my job to congratulate you." her stylist says. "So let's keep my half-assed congratulations between us because judging by the reapings, this is the last place you wanna be. Deal?"

"Sounds good." Ariel says. "Thank god _someone_ has some sense around here."

"I am Phillipe." he introduces. "So Ariel, shall we get started?"

"Let's get this over with." Ariel grins and he grins back.

"So, I'm sure you're familiar with the story of The Little Mermaid." Phillipe says.

"All too well." Ariel tells him. "My mom used to always tell me that story when I was a little girl."

Suddenly, Ariel starts to miss her parents even more.

"Shhh. I'm sorry. Don't cry." Phillipe soothes her. The next thing she knows, she buries her face in his shoulder.

"It's okay." he says. "It'll all be okay. I believe you can win the games but first we must do whatever it takes for you to get sponsors."

Ariel nods and then listens to what he has to say.

"So, I was thinking that we could dress you up like Ariel, from The Little Mermaid, I mean."

"You mean, I'm going to be in the parade with an actual fishtail?" Ariel looks at him confused.

"No, but it will be a skirt that resembles a fishtail."

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"You'll find out."

* * *

"I can't believe I agreed to this." Ariel says to herself as she's standing in her mermaid costume outside of the exit door. "How am I going to make it to my chariot from here?"

Ariel starts walking thanking the high heavens that they didn't dress her in heels along with it. Her feet are completely concealed by the cascading fabric, which flows out from the ankles, while every fabric above the ankles hugs every curve of her legs, thus resulting in the difficulty in motion. The skirt is an ocean blue, while the fabric that flows out is a swirling and sparkling mixture of ocean blue and teal and it has white lace outlining it. Her torso would be bare if it wasn't for the white shell bra with the shells outlined with the same white lace as the skirt. Every bare part of her body sparkles from clear glitter. Her hazel eyes shine with sparkling eyeshimmer with a blend of different colors. Her eyelashes are lengthened with clump-free mascara and they are lined with precise eyeliner, and her hair cascades like ocean waves.

Ariel sighs as she attempts to walk. She's walking slower than normal and the next thing she knows, a certain District 1 tribute is standing in front of her.

"Hey princess." he grins.

"What do you want 1?" Ariel sighs. The next thing she knows she trips on a piece of the outflowing cloth and falls forward. She expects to land on her face but instead she feels two arms that caught her and are supporting her.

"Here, if I don't do something, it'll be years before the parade starts." Marvel says before he lifts her up into his arms.

"What are you doing?" Ariel asks him furiously as he's carrying her.

"Well, I was hoping to get a little workout from this before the games, but it seems you're a little too light." he smirks.

"The amount of weight-bashing I've experienced today is _really_ starting to irritate me." Ariel says.

"Not bashing." Marvel states. "Although now that you mention it, it wouldn't hurt you to put on a few pounds. A working out before the game is very beneficial."

"That's it, put me down!" Ariel orders.

"Look, I'm sorry. The chariot is still a little far, this is quicker." Marvel insists. "I kind of want to get this parade over with so that I can get to my suite if you don't mind."

Ariel sighs and realizes there's no point in arguing with him. Before she knows it, they reach her chariot and he gently sets her down and helps her into it.

"You're looking a little pale, you okay?" he asks her.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Ariel asks him.

"Maybe I want you and little man here to join the career alliance?" Marvel suggests as he gestures towards Poseidon sitting next to Ariel. Ariel feels bad for not even noticing him there, but Poseidon looks pleased.

"I think that's something me and him will have to discuss." Ariel states in a professional manner.

"Alright, hopefully you guys will make the right choice." Marvel winks at her before running to his chariot that his blonde district partner is sitting in. He dramatically jumps in, earning an annoyed glare from her.

"I think we should do it." Poseidon said.

The opening music starts before Ariel can say anything and each chariot rides into the city by order of districts. This is the moment that all of the sponsors first see the tributes. The silver outfits that were placed on District 1's tributes are inevitably the first to shine as each chariot moves one by one in the District 2's menacing gold gladiator armor shines. Then District 3's outfits are confusing. They're supposed to resemble a computer of some sort. Then Ariel and Poseidon's chariot is next and they smile as the crowd cheers for them too. Ariel can hear them chanting "little mermaid" repeatedly and it boosts her confidence of receiving sponsors in the games. Suddenly, the crowd chants for District 12.

"Wait what?" Ariel says out loud.

She looks on the screen and sees the girl from District 12, Katniss, and the boy, who is named Peeta due to the shouting of the crowd, literally in flames. She chuckles a tad bit out of spite when Peeta attempts to grab Katniss's hand and she pulls her's away. Then he says something to her and they lock hands and hold them in the air. Ariel literally scowls then as the crowd screams with joy. When each chariot reaches the City Circle, they stop and listen to President Snow's speech.

"Welcome!" he starts. "Welcome, tributes! We welcome you!"

_'You're full of shit.' _Ariel wants to say.

"We salute your courage and your sacrifice!"

Ariel stops herself from booing him in the middle of the crowd cheering immediately when she remembers the consequences.

"And we wish you, happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" he concludes.

The chariots leave the circle as the crowd cheers and Ariel still notices Katniss and Peeta on the screen and gives a spiteful glare along with Poseidon.

As soon as the chariot stops, everyone steps off except Ariel is unable to. Ariel glares at Katniss and notices Marvel glaring at Katniss and Peeta too. Marvel takes the same notice of Ariel doing the same thing then continues to glare at them. Marvel starts to make his way over to Ariel's chariot, but then her stylist, prep team, escort, and mentors are crowding around it.

"Come on, you can do it!" Finnick encourages her.

Ariel is annoyed and frustrated at being treated like a child so she attempts to step over and ends up tripping and falling over, landing on her back.

"Ariel, are you alright?!" Ursula exclaims.

_'Why me?'_ Ariel thinks to herself as everyone around her laughs at her except for Poseidon, Finnick, Mags, and her prep team.

"Ariel, are you alright?" Poseidon asks her as Finnick helps her up.

"You mean aside from the public humiliation of today? Yeah, I'll be fine."

"I promise you not too many people saw." Poseidon tries to comfort her. "At least it wasn't in front of the crowd."

"That I can agree with." Ariel smiles at him. "But it's not just that. I can't believe we got shown up by _District 12_ of all people!"

"I know." Poseidon said. "But people loved us too!"

"Let's make an impression." Ariel smiles.

"Alright, enough chit chat." Finnick says as he picks Ariel up. She gives him a look. "What? It'll take us a million years to get to our suite if you try to walk! Unless you wanna take that skirt off!"

"Not a chance." Ariel rolls her eyes at him as he carries her.

When they arrive at their suite on the 4th floor, Finnick carries Ariel to her bedroom then sets her down on the bed.

"Alright, now get a shower and get dressed." Finnick tells her. "We're about to have dinner."

Ariel nods at him as he leaves the room. She immediately slips off the wretched skirt and the beautiful shell bra and walks into the shower. She notices and array of buttons and decides to press a random one. All the glitter is washed off of her body and she comes out smelling like baby's breath flowers and walks over to the dresser. She opens a random drawer and finds a comfortable pair of black yoga pants. She sighs as she slips them on. Then she picks out a form-fitting turquoise tanktop with thin straps and puts it on. After she slips on teal fuzzy slippers and throws her hair up in a messy bun, she joins everyone at the table. She noticed that Poseidon had on a light blue t-shirt with a shark on it paired with black sweatpants with double white stripes down the side and smiles at him.

"So Ariel, I noticed the boy from District 1 was a kind young gentleman and carried you to your chariot today when you had trouble walking." Mags starts the conversation.

"Yeah, he did." Ariel confirms.

"Did anything else happen?" Finnick asks.

"He offered us spots in the career alliance." Poseidon grins. "Ariel told him we needed to discuss it, and he said he hopes we make the right choice and jogged away before I could even give an answer."

"Ah, so you got offered the spot before you could even show them what you've got in training." Phillipe grins. "He must've been a boy with sense and saw how beautiful you are."

"Yeah, well if he tries anything funny in the arena, he'll be the first person I kill." Ariel retorts.

This causes the room to chuckle except for Poseidon who has a hopeful look on his face.

"Does this mean you agree to join them?" Poseidon asks excitedly.

"Why not?" Ariel smiles at him. "It doesn't sound like too shabby of an idea, plus it'll increase our chances of survival if we don't mess up with them beforehand."

"Excellent!" Ursula says. "Just make sure to stay on their good side and you will be fine!"

"Just be careful." Mags warns them. "When I joined the careers in my games, they tried to kill me in my sleep. Always watch your back and watch out for each other too."

"Always make sure at least one of you is taking night watch." Finnick says. "I don't care how you do it, just do it. And no matter what you feel, you have to appear just as bloodthirsty as the rest of the careers so that you won't be a prime target!"

Ariel and Poseidon both nod at him. When dinner ends, everyone retreats to their room, considering it was a late dinner due to the parade. Ariel lays down and attempts to sleep, however, after an hour of tossing and turning, she decides to get up and walk around. She immediately steps foot into the elevator then presses the button for the roof. As soon as the doors open at her destination, she stares out in awe.

She walks to the railing at the edge of the roof and stares out at the beautiful city. She envies the lives of these well-off people. They never have to worry about being put in the battle royale known as The Hunger Games. This angers Ariel, yet she knows that no matter what, nothing will change. She realizes that the likelihood of her being the one out of 24 tributes to make it out of the arena alive is slim. She knows that Cato, the boy from District 2, could easily decapitate her. She immediately starts crying at such a thought and loses hope of making it out.

Then she notices how high up she really is. Just one drop and she won't have to participate in the games. She immediately puts one foot over the railing and hoists herself over standing at the edge of the roof on the other side of the rail that keeps people from falling off. She leans forward slightly, still gripping the rail with both hands and looks down. She gasps at how far down she would really fall.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." a voice says behind her, startling her into looking back.

"What are you talking about?" Ariel asks him playing dumb.

"You know very well what I'm talking about." Marvel states with an annoyed expression. "And you can't do it anyway."

"Excuse me?" Ariel retorts. "Who the hell are you to tell me what I can and can't do?"

"There's a forcefield." Marvel states matter-of-factly. "Some tributes in the past have tried to kill themselves by jumping off the roof so they installed it."

Ariel scoffs at him and turns to look at the city.

"Come on." Marvel says.

"If there's a forcefield, why does it matter if I jump?" Ariel knows it's a stupid question but she is growing quite irritated with Marvel, so she wants to irritate him.

"Because you will be bounced straight back like a little rag doll, _probably_ hitting the railing and breaking a few bones in your ribs." Marvel says. "You'll still have to fight in the games even if you're injured, you know."

"I know that!" Ariel hisses.

"Come on." Marvel gestures to himself. "Give me your hand and I'll help you over."

"I can get myself over just fine!" Ariel snaps and kicks one of her legs over the rail and then the other one back to safety.

"Okay, jeez, sorry." Marvel has his hands up.

"Why are you acting like you care so much?" Ariel asks him in close enough proximity to lean up and kiss him. "You don't know me and you sure thought it was funny when I lost all my sponsors and suffered public humiliation today!"

"You know, you just think you have me all figured out, don't you?" Marvel snaps. " You don't know me, so don't even pretend like you do! And for the record, Glimmer and I didn't laugh at you when you fell! I was actually concerned about you!"

Ariel's eyes softened at the realization of what he said and Marvel raises his eyebrows at her.

"Yeah, didn't expect that did you, little miss perfect?" Marvel scorns. "And get this, I tried to come over and help you, but my mentors Gloss and Cashmere wouldn't have it! They held me back and Glimmer had to calm me down because of how angry I was!"

Ariel then looks ashamed and Marvel breaks eye contact and walks away, leaving her alone on the roof. She sighs as she leans back against a nearby wall and lets herself slide down, closing her eyes and burying her face in her hands.

**Oooo I was so tempted to just make them kiss due to the proximity of their faces! But of course, it would have been too soon! I can't wait until the time comes though! And I know Katniss made up the name Foxface for the redhead, but it doesn't have to be _certain_ that she was the only one that thought she looked like a fox! Please read and review though! I'd really appreciate it!**


	4. Really, Finnick? Toy Swords?

**So, sorry I took so long to update but I've just been super stressed lately. I had to break up with my boyfriend since he lied to me for about two straight weeks without any remorse in doing so. Anyway, wanna know what will cheer me up? Reviews! Enjoy! :D**

* * *

"Rise and shine!" Ursula's annoying voice booms excitedly. "Get up for training RIGHT NOW!"

Ariel groans. "Five more minutes?"

"No! Up!"

Suddenly, Ariel feels the coldest liquid pour down her tanktop and lets out a loud gasping scream sitting up.

"What the hell was that?!" she demands.

"I had to get you up somehow!" Ursula says nonchalantly.

Ariel lets out a loud groan and gets out of bed causing Ursula to smile and leave satisfied.

Ariel stomps over to her dresser and notices her training outfit that Phillipe designed for her. Ursula must have left it there before waking Ariel up. The outfit consisted of tight leggings that are small enough to hug every curve and a blue ocean wave print tank top with black combat boots.

_'Thank God it's not practically a fishtail this time.'_

Ariel joins everyone for breakfast and notices pancakes on the table. She picks out some strawberry pancakes and starts eating.

"I can't wait to join the careers today!" Poseidon says.

Ariel looks down remembering the things she and Marvel said to each other the night before with a pang of guilt. Why does she feel guilty for the way she treated that boy? He is a career after all, and he's just as bloodthirsty as Ariel is gonna have to pretend to be, or what if he's just pretending too?

"Something wrong, Ariel?" Finnick asks.

"Huh? No nothing!" Ariel answers quickly. "I'm just ready to train already."

"Aw, you have a crush!" Ursula makes fun of her.

_'Oh my god. Shut up.'_

"I do not!" Ariel says as Finnick chuckles. "If by crush, you mean someone I'm gonna kill, then yes!"

"Sure you are" Finnick grins.

"Grr, let's go!" she says as she gets up furiously. Poseidon follows with an amused expression.

"Wait." Mags says and Ariel does so. "While the weapons station is important, the survival skills are just as important and I suggest you don't ignore them."

Ariel nods and smiles. "Thanks Mags."

"Yeah, thanks Mags." Poseidon smiles appreciatively.

"You're welcome." Mags gives her own warm smile.

"And try not to flirt with District 1 too much." Finnick winks.

"Can we go now?" Ariel asks annoyed.

"As you wish." Finnick smiles as he gets up to lead them to the elevator. Once they're in the elevator, it stops before reaching the underground floor. Ariel looks at the floor it stopped on and sure enough it stopped on the first floor.

Marvel and Glimmer step into the elevator, Glimmer smiling politely and Marvel smirking. Glimmer realizes Finnick is in the elevator and smiles up at him with her famous flirtatious smile.

"So, I finally get to meet the famous, not to mention, handsome, Finnick O'Dair." she says casually as she tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Glimmer."

"The pleasure's all mine, Glimmer." Finnick smiles at her and she nearly melts.

Ariel feels tremendous annoyance at this considering that he does have a beautiful girl at home waiting for him. She glares at Glimmer and Finnick with utter disdain. He knows what Annie has gone through in the games, and he does this shit to her behind her back? She can't believe him.

The elevator arrives at the underground floor and Ariel quickly walks out to get away from Finnick and Glimmer as fast as possible. When she's in the training center, District 11 and District 2 are already there. Finnick and Poseidon catch up and join her. She can already hear Cato and Clove laughing at her due to her embarrassment yesterday. She glares at Cato causing him to stop laughing, smirk at her, and cross his arms. Ariel continues glaring at him.

"Play nice." Finnick warns causing Ariel to break eye contact and look at him. "Don't get on their bad side."

"I know what I'm doing!" Ariel hisses, frustrated that he made her lose the staring contest with Cato. She is still mad at him for flirting with Glimmer on top of that.

"Okay, calm down." Finnick whispers and laughs with his hands in the air.

"Can we go train now?" Ariel asks annoyed.

"As you wish, your majesty." Finnick grins as Ariel's blood boils even more and steps backwards into the elevator after Foxface and her district partner from 5 step off of it. Ariel locks eyes with Foxface before partially joining Cato and the others to listen to what the training center supervisor, Atala, has to say. Atala waits on the rest of the tributes to arrive. Finally, Katniss and Peeta are the last to arrive and on top of that, they're wearing matching outfits with Peeta smiling and Katniss not looking too happy about it. This causes Cato and Clove to laugh even harder than they did at Ariel, making them forget about her. Strangely, it makes her feel better.

"Alright that's enough." Atala says. "I need everyone's attention now."

Everyone stays silent to look at Atala.

"In two weeks, twenty-three of you will be dead. One of you will be alive. Who that is will depend on how well you pay attention over the next four days. First, no fighting with the other tributes. You'll have plenty of time for that in the arena. There are four compulsory exercises. The rest will be individual training. My advice is, don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes. Ten percent from infection, twenty percent from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife."

Ariel looks at Marvel and notices he's staring at her as well. He breaks his stare and walks past her towards the sparring station. Ariel sighs and goes to the survival skills station to heed Mags's advice and to avoid Marvel. She notices Foxface easily acing the edible plants test on the giant screen and looks impressed. She notices Poseidon is at the noose station along with Katniss and joins them. She listens to the instructor teach them the different types of nooses, but finds it hard to comprehend him. When he is done talking, he wants them to attempt the noose he was talking about, which was a simple rabbit trap. Ariel's is okay, Poseidon's, not so much. To her dismay, Katniss's is perfect. She scowls at Katniss and listens to the instructor on the next nooses. She's used to making fishing nets at home, but nooses are an entirely different ball game for her. She and Poseidon do horribly while again, Katniss aces them. On the final noose, which is meant to have a tribute hanging by one foot, Ariel tries her absolute best to pay attention. When it is time for them to try, Ariel and Poseidon both fail miserably, and of course, Katniss aces it.

Ariel gives Katniss a nasty glare, which Katniss notices, before heading over to the sparring station while Poseidon heads over to the monkey bars. The boy from District 10 falls from them and sprains his leg. Ariel clenches her teeth in pain. She feels sorry for him when he has to enter the arena. She notices Katniss come up behind her and scoffs.

"You know, I've made plenty of nooses at home." Katniss tries to start conversation. Ariel ignores her.

"Although I didn't think I'd be able to ace that last one." Katniss laughs. "That I haven't done before."

Ariel continues to ignore her wishing she would go away.

"If you want, I could help you out?" Katniss offers. Ariel turns around shocked at her kindness, but then notices that the girl from District 7 is behind Katniss, while Clove is behind the girl from District 7. She does not want to appear weak in front of a lower district, and especially not in front of someone she wants to ally with. She smirks at Clove before turning to Katniss.

"Shut up." Ariel says to her. "Do you really think that I'm so pathetic, that I would need help from someone of District _12?"_

Clove laughs out of agreement and Katniss turns around to look at her then looks back at Ariel. The little exchange is interrupted by an angry Cato from the other side of the room.

"Where's my knife? Huh?" Cato demands from the District 6 male. "Huh? I put my knife over there!"

"God damn it!" the male loses his temper as Cato starts to shove him. Luckily a sparring instructor gets in between them. "I didn't touch your knife!"

"Fuck that!" Cato says. "You took my knife!"

"I didn't touch your knife!" District 6 shouts. "I didn't touch your fucking knife!"

"Liar!" Cato screams as peacekeepers are pulling him away. "You little punk!"

"If anything, _you_ took _my _knife!" he says to piss off Cato even more.

"Get off of me!" Cato screams at the peacekeepers.

"I was just sitting here!" District 6 tries to explain.

"You know what?" Cato says. "I'll see you in the arena! You're the first one I'll get, so watch your back!"

Ariel notices Katniss looking up grinning and glares again.

"What the hell are you smiling about?" Ariel starts in on her.

"Nothing." Katniss smiles as the whistle blows for lunch. "Just the fact that you're gonna fail miserably at getting any food in the arena since you refused my help."

Ariel glares at Katniss even more as she walks away triumphantly.

"Bitch." Ariel mutters. Clove smirks at her and beckons Ariel to walk with her.

"Clove." the brunette says to her.

"Ariel." she says back.

"So, what can you do?" Clove asks her.

That is a good question because Ariel does not know how to answer it. What can she do?

"Well, I sure can't tie traps, but I do know how to tie knots together into a fishing net."

"No, I mean, what can you do?" Clove asks.

"Uh, I can stab." Ariel says.

Clove rolls her eyes and walks ahead. Ariel scoffs clearly annoyed at the exchange. She made it a point to go straight to the weapons station right after lunch. She notices the variety of foods from different districts on the table. She grabs some bread from District 4 and pasta and walks over to the fruit table.

"Is that all you're gonna eat?" a voice asks from behind her.

"Marvel." Ariel says before she turns around. "What are you talking about? I'm not done filling up my plate."

"Okay, if you say so." Marvel smirks.

"What do you want?" Ariel asks annoyed as she picks up an apple and adds it.

"I wanted to apologize for last night." Marvel says. "I kinda lost my temper there, didn't I?"

'_What the hell is he talking about? I'm the one that was wrong.'_

"Um, you're forgiven." Ariel says at a loss for words.

"Good." Marvel smiles. "So, you gonna sit with us?"

"I don't think 2 would like that since I couldn't tell her which weapon I'm best at. I have to go straight to the weapons after lunch so that I can figure that out!"

"Well, she'll have to get over it." Marvel snorts. "She's a little too full of herself with those throwing knives anyway."

Ariel gives him a slight smile because she knows he's trying to lighten her mood, even though she doesn't deserve it after how she treated him.

"Come on." Marvel gestures towards the table. "Your district partner and Cato are already chatting away. You'll be fine."

"Okay." Ariel smiles and follows him to the table.

"I don't want her joining us." Clove says to Cato.

"Why not?"

"She's useless!" Clove states in disbelief. "I mean, look at her! She is nothing but bones! She doesn't even know how to use a weapon!"

"She's hot like Glimmer though and can get us sponsors. We _need_ sponsors, Clove!" Cato states. "You can't let your jealousy cloud your judgement."

"Please!" Clove snorts. "I am not jealous of her."

"You should be." Cato says. "She is pretty hot."

Clove scowls as Marvel and Ariel join them. After a few minutes, Glimmer joins them too.

"Hi." Glimmer smiles at Ariel.

"Hi." Ariel smiles back despite the fact that she's mad at her for flirting with Finnick.

"Okay guys, so you see that guy over there? District 11?" Cato asks.

Everyone nods.

"I've seen what he can do and he's very good." Cato continues. "I think we should ask him to join us."

"So what are we waiting for?" Clove asks.

"He looks like the kind of guy that could use female persuasion." Cato grins. "Ariel, are you up for it?"

"Me?" Ariel asks.

"No shit." Clove rolls her eyes.

Ariel glares at Clove before standing up.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do."

Ariel walks over to the table Thresh and Rue are sitting at.

"Hi, I'm Ariel." she says to them.

"And?" says Thresh ignoring her.

"Well, I've seen what you can do." Ariel says. "And I was wondering if you'd like to join our alliance." she gives a flirtatious smile. "Both you and your district partner."

Rue looks away nervously and Thresh laughs at Ariel.

"What's so funny?" she asks him.

"If you think I would ever join the likes of you, you must be taking too much morphling." Thresh tells her. "It's also funny that you think you can just whore yourself out and use your vagina to get what you want."

Ariel, appalled by Thresh's words, instantaneously stands up.

"Excuse me?" she asks.

"You heard me, slut." he says. "Get the fuck out of my face, or you'll be the first person I slaughter in the arena."

Ariel scoffs and walks away angrily. She fights back the tears that form in her eyes before rejoining the rest of the Careers at the table.

"So, how did it go?" Poseidon asks.

"Not well." Ariel informs. "He threatened to kill me if I didn't leave and called me a slut."

"That's one thing I can agree with." Clove smirks.

"Shut up, Clove." Cato says before Ariel has a chance to retaliate. Ariel gives him a grateful look that he's unaware of.

"That's okay." Poseidon says. "He's a loser for turning us down. We don't need him."

Ariel realizes Poseidon is acting the way he is to impress the Careers so she joins along.

"True." she smiles devilishly. "I can't wait until we catch him. I wanna give a good slice to his nuts while he's caught in a trap of mine."

This causes the table to go silent and look at Ariel in an impressed shock, even Clove, who immediately turns her face back to her usual glare, not wanting to admit that Ariel had impressed her.

"What? He made a sexual comment towards me in a way, so obviously that's what he's thinking with in the back of his mind."

The table ends up laughing, except for Clove, and Ariel smiles satisfied that she could make them laugh.

Lunch ends and Atala calls everyone back to training. Ariel walks up to Atala with a question in mind.

"Atala, I heard there's usually a swimming pool to train in every year." Ariel starts. "What happened to that?"

"Oh, it's currently closed right now." Atala says. "The gamemakers wanted it this year for relaxation during your lunch hour and they said they don't want it tainted with potentially dead tributes."

"That's a little ridiculous." Ariel says. "Some of us would like to swim as well."

"Rules are rules." Atala says firmly with Ariel glaring at her.

"Hey, Ariel!" Marvel says. "Why don't you come with me?"

He leads Ariel away from Atala before she says something stupid and they walk over to the weapons station.

"I'm so pissed off!" Ariel says.

"I could tell." Marvel remarked.

"I mean, who the hell are they to close down the swimming pools?" Ariel rants as she picks up a spear and throws it at the target, not quite hitting the middle. "Fuck!"

Marvel gives her an amused grin. "You're from District 4 though, aren't you? Aren't you an expert at swimming?"

"So not the point." Ariel sighs.

"Then what is it?" Marvel asks.

"Swimming helps me think" Ariel simply states. "I feel like I'm going insane every minute I'm in this wretched place!"

Ariel immediately regrets letting her bloodthirsty act fall.

"Then why'd you volunteer?" Marvel asks.

"The girl I volunteered for is someone close to me." Ariel tells him as she misses the center of the target again. "She wouldn't make it out alive."

"And you think you will?" Marvel asks flatly.

Ariel stops her throwing motion and turns to look at him with the spear in hand. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You're doing it wrong." Marvel tells her as he gets up behind her. He gently guides her arms the way they're supposed to be. "You hold your arm like this so that you throw in a smoother motion. Now try it."

Ariel does as he says and hits a perfect bullseye. She squeals and she turns around and jumps up as she hugs him with him catching her in midair as she wraps her legs around his waist.

Cato, Clove, Glimmer, and Poseidon notice this. Cato, Glimmer, and Poseidon give Ariel an approving smile while Clove has her arms crossed annoyed. Glimmer practices with a bow and arrow, which she seems she'll be incompetent with, but the rest of them don't care because she will get them sponsors. Cato admired Ariel because she proved she could be deadly and she can use her beauty and intellect to get them sponsors too. This was gonna be an interesting team.

* * *

Ariel and Poseidon get back to their floor and walk in, eager to tell Finnick and Mags all about training, only they don't see Mags anywhere in sight and Finnick and Ursula look distressed.

"What's going on?" Ariel asks.

"It's Mags." Finnick tells her.

"What happened?" Ariel feels tears well up in her eyes.

"She had a stroke this morning after I dropped you guys off at training."

"Luckily, she's gonna be okay." Ursula says.

"Only, we don't know if she'll ever be able to speak again." Finnick informs them.

"She is going home to District 4 tomorrow." Ursula tells them. "Only they won't allow visitors before sending her home."

"Annie will take good care of her though." Finnick says with admiration.

"Of course, because she's obligated to do _everything_ for you while you go behind her back!" Ariel states sourly as she storms towards her room.

"What are you talking about?" Finnick follows her.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Ariel says disgusted. "Glimmer ring a bell?"

"Ariel-" Finnick starts.

"Annie fucking loves you, Finnick!" Ariel cuts him off. "And you treat her like this behind her back?"

"You don't know anything about why I have to do this!" Finnick tells Ariel.

"Enlighten me!" Ariel demands.

"When it comes to something President Snow is behind, the less you know, the better." Finnick says gravely.

Ariel looks at him with realization. President Snow wants Finnick to keep up appearances and he has no choice but to listen unless he wants to suffer dire consequences.

"I'm sorry." Ariel says.

"Don't apologize." Finnick smiles. "I appreciate that you're looking out for Annie even when you barely know her. You're a good kid, Ariel."

"I just know how it feels to be cheated on." Ariel tells him, ignoring the kid remark, and he nods in understanding.

"So, about that training?" Finnick says.

"Teach me how to disarm some bastards." Ariel grins.

* * *

Ariel and Poseidon follow Finnick to the rooftop.

"Good, nobody is here!" Finnick exclaims as he grabs two toy swords and throws one to Ariel.

"Really, Finnick?" Ariel says amused."Toy swords?"

"What?" Finnick asks. "What better way to learn than with something that is the exact same shape as a potential weapon you'll face? Isn't this the boy from District 2's weapon of choice?"

"Why does she get to go first?" Poseidon demands.

"Poseidon, you may be training for the games but you can still be a gentleman." Finnick smiles at him. "Ladies first."

"I suppose that's fair." Poseidon sighs. Anyone could tell he is eager.

Finnick immediately starts hitting Ariel's sword causing Ariel to put up her defenses and join the unannounced sparring.

"Can't let your guard down, Ariel" Finnick says.

Ariel keeps up fine and manages to knock Finnick's sword out of his hand. Finnick immediately grabs Ariel's wrist and twists in one swift motion causing her to drop the sword. Ariel seethes in pain as Finnick picks up his sword.

"I'm surprised you're not screaming like a little girl." Finnick grins.

"I've dealt with worse." Ariel says rubbing her wrist. "But I'm pretty sure Cato will be more aware of my movements than I was of yours in the arena.

"Not necessarily." Finnick says. "He may have been trained all his life, but his arrogance could definitely be his downfall."

Ariel does the same swift movements Finnick did and disarmed him while kicking the sword somewhere else. Finnick looked shocked as Ariel smirked.

"You're a fast learner." Finnick says. Ariel picks up both of the swords and throws the other one to Finnick. They spar again and Ariel does the same movements and disarms him again.

"I think you should retire and let Poseidon give this a try." Finnick smiles.

"Will do." Ariel says and sits and watches Poseidon.

Poseidon and Finnick spar and after a while Poseidon finally attempts to disarm Finnick but Finnick deflects his movements.

"You have to be a lot quicker than that, Poseidon." Finnick says. "If your opponent knows what you're about to do, they will stop you."

Finnick and Poseidon try again a few times and Poseidon doesn't get it. Dinner time arrives and they agree to go there again tomorrow.

* * *

Marvel arrives at the dinner table and notices that their mentors and escort are missing.

"Where are Gloss and Cashmere?"

"Remember how I gave them my district token? The ring my mom gave me?" Glimmer asks.

"Yeah." Marvel says. "What about it?"

"They found out that it was... a weapon." Glimmer looks down sadly.

"What?!" Marvel says. "Glimmer, you could get in a lot of trouble for this!"

"I know!" Glimmer says. "I told my mom this was a bad idea, but she wouldn't listen! She insisted that I use this in the arena to get home, but even so, I wouldn't have done it anyway!"

"Why not?" Marvel asks.

"Because it's unfair!" Glimmer tells him. "I mean, sure it would make my situation a whole lot easier, but 23 other people besides me have families at home too, and they deserve at least some fighting chance!"

Marvel stares at her in astonishment. He realizes Glimmer isn't like normal careers.

"Yes." Glimmer confirms as if she read his thoughts. "I'm only pretending to be bloodthirsty so that Cato doesn't kill me off immediately. On top of that-" Glimmer is cut off by her own tears.

"Glimmer, what is it?" Marvel asks with concern prevalent in his voice.

"Cato is insisting that I have _sex_ with him after our interviews so that he can _fulfill his needs_ before the games start!"

"What the fuck?!" Marvel stands up. "That's awful! Glimmer, I will not stand for this! You do not have to do it!"

"He said he'll kill me if I don't do it!" Glimmer bursts out into more tears.

Marvel sits down with shock on his face and merely stares at Glimmer with sympathy as she cries her heart out.

"Glimmer, no, I will fucking kill him." Marvel tells her.

"You don't stand a chance and you know it!" Glimmer says to him. "Please, just let me do this. I'll get it over with. I don't want any fighting. We need as many allies as we can get and you know it. You know it's our best chance of lasting long."

Marvel is shaking out of anger and Glimmer cries even more.

"Please don't be mad at me." she says in between sobs.

"Glimmer, I'm not mad at you." Marvel says softly as he sits in the chair next to her and holds her as she sobs.

"Marvel?" Glimmer asks.

"Hmmm?" he asks soothingly.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"It's gonna be my first time so please forgive me if I'm overly emotional when we get back here after the interviews." Glimmer says.

This angers Marvel even more. Cato is taking advantage of Glimmer with death threats and he's gonna take something very sacred from her on top of it.

"So, you and Brody didn't do it?" Marvel asks trying to get her mind off of the situation with memories of home.

"God, no!" Glimmer says as she rests her head on his shoulder. "I wanted it to be with someone special and Brody was way too obsessed with the idea of fucking a virgin."

"I remember you telling me that when we went on that date we were forced on. I mean you wanting to save it for someone special, not about Brody, because we went on the date before you and Brody got together, which he seemed to hate me for."

"Yeah, everyone thought we should be together because of how good of friends we are." Glimmer reminisces.

"So we decided to try it out and test their theories, only when we kissed-"

"It grossed us out so bad that we seemed like kindergartners with phobias of cooties!" Glimmer finished for him giggling.

Marvel laughs and immediately cheers up. Glimmer sits up and smiles at him and he smiles at her back.

"Well hey, I'm going to bed." Glimmer tells him. "I know you're wanting to get to that rooftop, and I'm not gonna keep you."

"Wait, what?" Marvel asks dumbfounded.

"I know who you met up there last night." Glimmer grins at him. "I'm not an idiot. I can see the way you look at her in training and how you had your arms around her waist when teaching her to throw a spear."

"I ran into her by chance!" Marvel states in defense.

"And I know you're wanting to get up there to see if she's there again." Glimmer grins. "Good night, Marvel." she tells him before she disappears into her room.

Marvel stares at her door with an amusing expression. Then he gets up and walks out into the hall and into the elevator then presses the button that takes him to the rooftop. He walks out into the fresh air and smiles at the beautiful sight of the city.

Marvel ends up going into deep thought. He thinks about his life at home. He thinks about how he and Glimmer would go to the shopping centre together and Glimmer would be his wing-man, or rather wing-woman, and help him find a girl. Although he only ever hooked up with the girls. He never desired a relationship with any of them. This made Glimmer mad after a while so she quit doing this. Then a week later, they both got reaped. Well, Marvel volunteered, but he definitely wanted to protect Glimmer even though he still would've volunteered even if she wasn't reaped. Now he has another girl he wants to protect too.

Marvel immediately shakes the thoughts from his head.

'_No. I can't do this. I'm supposed to kill her." _he tells himself. _"But I don't want to...'_

Marvel thinks about the reason he's in this situation in the first place. He thinks about his mother and how she's neglected him. He thinks about how worthless that made him feel and how the reason he wanted to win the games was to feel like he's worth something. Now things have changed. It was bad enough he would have to kill his best friend to achieve what he wants. Now he has to kill the girl he loves.

Marvel has a grave look on his face after that last thought. He immediately walks up to one of the toy swords, picks one up, and throws it off the roof, causing it to hit the forcefield and bounce back up completely charred. Then he kicks it against a nearby wall and buries his face in his fists.

"Marvel?"

Marvel's head shoots up at the source of the voice. Ariel walks over to him.

"Are you alright?" she asks him as she walks over to him.

"Yeah." Marvel says blankly looking into her eyes with fear on his face. Ariel has the same look in her eyes except it's more stern. She gently places her hand on his cheek to comfort him and he closes his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Ariel asks him.

Marvel then realizes that he is showing weakness. He pushes her hand off of his face and turns around in frustration.

"Nothing, alright?!"

"Obviously something is since I arrive on this rooftop and the first thing I see is you throwing a fucking fit!" Ariel says. Marvel can tell in her voice that he hurt her feelings, but he doesn't care and turns around.

"What is your deal?!" he says. "You think you can be a bitch one minute and then attempt to be all nice to me the next?"

Marvel now sees hurt in Ariel's eyes instead of just hearing it in her voice that he called her what he called her.

"Don't give me that look." he says. "You're just some spoiled little daddy's girl that think she can have her way all the time with everybody aren't you?"

The next thing he knows, a fist meets his face, colliding with his nose.

"Really?" Ariel notices blood dripping from his right nostril but doesn't care. "You think my life is so perfect? Tell that to the fucking tsunami that took _both_ of my parents who, according to you, spoil me rotten!"

Marvel is at a loss for words and regrets his actions. He knows he only said the things he said because of his frustration and doesn't want to admit that he cares for her, but like it or not, he does. He's only known her for three days and he does.

Before he can say he's sorry, Ariel turns around on one heel and leaves him alone on the rooftop. Alone with all of his thoughts.

* * *

**Okay, so there are some things I'd like to address! First, I don't know for sure if the reason Mags couldn't speak in Catching Fire was due to a stroke, but I think I remember that being Katniss's theory, so I incorporated it into this story. Also, I'm not COMPLETELY sure if that's how you disarm someone, but I do think it's unique in a way and how quick Finnick and Ariel do it in my head just work out in my mind. Also, it would seem that Marvel thought about loving her a little too fast, but he isn't exactly _in _love with her. Right now, he's going through a lot that is confusing, but obviously they are gonna end up loving each other. :P Anyway, read and review! I've noticed I'm getting people adding this to their story alerts but they won't review it and it makes me sad! :(**


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